Abstract: Objective To investigate the correlation of disease severity with serum titer of anti-BP180 autoantibody in patients with bullous pemphigoid(BP).Methods Twenty patients were enrolled into the study.Blood samples were collected 3-4 times at different stages of treatment process from every patient.Serum titer of anti-BP180 autoantibody was measured with BP180NC16a-ELISA.Correlation analysis of ELISA indices with disease severity was performed.Results Out of the 20 BP patients,19 were positive for anti-BP180 antibody.Mean ELISA OD value of the 19 patients was 0.520(range:0.832-0.372) before treatment,0.405(range:0.723-0.204) when disease was under control and glucocorticosteroid dosage was ready to be reduced,and 0.215(range:0.412-0.093) when glucocorticosteroid dosage was successfully tapered to 0.5 mg·kg^-1·d^-1 of prednisone equivalent.Compared with ELISA indices before treatment,they were significantly reduced after successful therapy(P<0.001).Conclusions Serum titer of anti-BP180 autoantibody is well correlated with disease severity in BP patients.So,it may be used to evaluate the disease severity of and therapeutic effect on BP.

Key words: Pemphigoid,bullous, Autoantibadies, BP 180, Clinical severity